1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device, and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
With regard to light emitting devices that convert the wavelength of light radiated by a light emitting element and emit it outside, JP 2002-141559A discloses a configuration in which a light emitting diode chip and a phosphor chip are fixedly bonded to each other by a transparent adhesive. The phosphor chips of JP 2002-141559A include, for example, a substrate and a phosphor mixed in the substrate. Some disclosed examples are: a phosphor chip that is cut out of a phosphor ingot made of monocrystal, polycrystal or sintered phosphor powder; a phosphor chip that is formed by mixing a phosphor powder with a binder such as a resin and a metalloxane sol, injecting it into a mold, and drying and curing it by heat; and a phosphor chip that is formed by mixing a phosphor powder with a binder, molding it to a plate, drying and curing it by heat, and then cutting it out.
Phosphor chips have, for example, a recess to house a light emitting element, and a light emitting diode chip is fitted therein and fixed by an adhesive. An optically transparent resin such as an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, a polycarbonate resin and a polyimide resin may be used for the adhesive.
The conventional light emitting devices as disclosed in JP 2002-141559A are, however, manufactured by fitting a light emitting diode chip into a separately produced phosphor chip. This requires a lot of work because the devices have to be assembled individually. As a result, it has been impossible to achieve a low production cost.
Further, such light emitting devices suffer from poor thermal dissipation if the light emitting face and side faces of their light emitting element are covered with a phosphor layer for example.